A headphone apparatus that is such constructed, for example, as shown in FIG. 1 has conventionally been commercialized. FIG. 1 is a frontal view of a listener who is wearing the headphone apparatus. The present headphone apparatus includes a housing 110 that is positioned so as to cover the listener's left outer ear, a housing 120 that is positioned so as to cover the listener's right outer ear, hangers 160 and 160′ that support the housings 110 and 120 so that the housings 110 and 120 are freely rotatable, and sliders 180 and 180′ that are attached to the upper parts of the hangers 160 and 160′, with the sliders 180 and 180′ being joined to bands. In FIG. 1, the bands are covered with tubes 131 and 132, which are made of resin, so that the bands cannot be seen from the outside. Both ends of the band that are covered by the tubes 131 and 132 are connected to the sliders 180 and 180′ via connecting members 140 and 140′.
FIG. 2 is a side view of the headphone apparatus. FIG. 2 only shows the part that is placed over the listener's left outer ear, though the construction on the right hand side is fundamentally the same. The housing 110 is attached to the hanger 160 so that the housing 110 can rotate about supports 161 and 162, and one end of the slider 180 is attached to a center part 163 of the hanger 160. In this example, the slider 180 is formed of a piece of metal wire that has been bent into a U shape. A resinous connecting member 140 is attached to a midpoint of the slider 180. This connecting member 140 is constructed so as to be able to move along the slider 180 parallel to the slider 180, so that a listener can adjust the position of the bands when wearing the headphone apparatus.
Ends of the bands that are covered with the two tubes 131 and 132 are fixed to the connecting member 140. Also, a cord 170 for transmitting an audio signal between the left and right housings 110 and 120 is passed through one of these tubes (tube 131). As shown in FIG. 2, this cord 170 is exposed to the outside between the connecting member 140 and the hanger 160. Between the hanger 160 and the housing 110, the cord 170 is passed through the inside of the hanger 160.
FIG. 3 shows the internal construction of respective parts of the headphone apparatus when looking from the same side as in FIG. 2. It should be noted that the housing 110 is shown at a position where the housing 110 has been rotated by 90° from the position shown in FIG. 2. A driver 111 that is supplied with an audio signal and outputs sound is provided on the inside of the housing 110. Also, in the present example, a space 112 into which the outer ear is placed is provided at the front of the housing 110.
The cord 170 that extends from the driver 111 provided in the housing 110 passes through the inside of the hanger 160 from the support 162 provided on the hanger 160 and exits the hanger 160 at the center part 163. The cord 170 that extends out of the hanger 160 then enters the connecting member 140.
The connecting member 140 is provided with four screw holes 141 so that a cover member (not shown in the drawings) can be attached with screws. In FIG. 3, the inside of the connecting member 140 is shown with this cover member having been removed. The connecting member 140 in the present example is attached to a midpoint of the U-shaped slider 180, one end of which is attached to the hanger 160, with the connecting member 140 being able to slide along the slider 180 parallel to the slider 180. One end of each of the bands 133 and 134, which are covered with the tubes 131 and 132, are fixed to the connecting member 140. As one example, the bands 133 and 134 can be composed of pieces of metal wire that exhibit elasticity and have 90° bends at their ends. Holes 146 and 147 into which the ends of the bands 133 and 134 are inserted are also provided in the connecting member 140, with the bent ends of the bands 133 and 134 being inserted into these holes 146 and 147 so that the bands 133 and 134 engage the connecting member 140.
FIG. 4 is an enlargement showing how the band 133 is connected to the connecting member 140. The cover member 150 is screwed onto the connecting member 140 using the screw 191. The end of the band 133 that is bent by 90° is inserted into the hole 146 and engages the connecting member 140. Once the cover member 150 has been screwed on, the end of the band 133 is prevented from coming out of the hole, so that the bands 133 and 134 are reliably fixed to the connecting member 140.
When the band 133 is fixed to the connecting member 140, the end 131a of the tube 131 that covers the band 133 is received by a concave 142 in the connecting member 140. Consequently, the band 133 cannot be seen from the connecting member 140. Putting this another way, when the band 133 and the tube 131 are attached to the connecting member 140 as shown in FIG. 5, the end 131a of the tube 131 is received by the channel 142, so that the band 133 and the cord 170 cannot be seen.
On the other hand, the tube that covers the band is formed of a synthetic resin and is flexible so that it can extend and contract only to a certain degree. As a result, when a force acts so as to pull the tube along the band, there are cases where the end 131a of the tube 131 comes out of the connecting member 140, resulting in the band and the cord becoming exposed. FIG. 6 shows an example in which the end 131a of the tube 131 has come out of the connecting member 140. As shown in FIG. 6, when a force acts so as to pull the tube 131 along the band, it is relatively easy for the end 131a of the tube 131 to come out of the concave 142 in the connecting member 140. Depending on how the user holds the headphone apparatus, this can occur when the user handles the headphone apparatus.
When the tube 131 comes out in this way, the band 133 and the cord 170 that are covered by the tube 131 become exposed, which spoils the appearance of the headphone apparatus. Also, as shown in FIG. 6, the band 133 and the cord 170 become loose in the concave 142 that accommodates the end of the tube 131, so that when the tube 131 is moved to the left or the right (such as in the directions shown as x and y in FIG. 6), the band 133 and the cord 170 are moved to the left and the right inside the connecting member 140, making it easy for the cord 170 to break.
It should be noted that as shown in FIG. 5, it is possible to make it difficult for the end 131a of the tube 131 to come out by making the length L1 of the concave into which the end 131a of the tube 131 is inserted sufficiently long, though making the length L1 sufficiently long results in a corresponding increase in the size of parts such as the connecting member, causing the problem of an increase in the size of the headphone apparatus. Accordingly, this solution cannot be used for headphone apparatuses which need to be small, such as those used with portable devices. It is also possible to fix the end of the tube 131 to the inside of the connecting member 140 using an adhesive or the like, though in this case also, a relatively long piece of the tube 131 needs to be positioned inside the connecting member 140 so as to ensure that there is a sufficient surface area for applying the adhesive. This makes this solution unsuited to small headphone apparatuses, while the additional need to apply the adhesive during assembly makes the headphone apparatuses more difficult to assemble.
Also, when the cord and band become exposed from the end 131a of the tube 131, it becomes possible for the wearer to touch the band and cord. If the user touches the cord, in the worst-case scenario this can result in the cord becoming wound around the band and in deterioration in the arrangement of the cord within the tube. This is not favorable and is another problem for headphone apparatuses.
It should be noted that while a headphone apparatus with the construction that has been described thus far is constructed with a band that is attached to the housings via a connecting member, the same problems as described above are also present with headphone apparatuses with a construction where housings that are worn on the user's left and right outer ears are directly connected to a band that is covered by a tube.